BJP to hold nationwide protests against UPA govt

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would hold nationwide protests May 4-5 against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government over irregularities in coal blocks and 2G spectrum allocations, the party announced on Sunday.

"BJP has decided to take the fight against corruption from parliament to the people of the country. The party will organise massive protests and dharnas in all state capitals on May 4 and 5," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters in New Delhi.

He said the party would continue to raise the issues in parliament as well.

"We will continue to fight against massive corruption of the Congress regime and its shameless cover-up," he said.

The BJP has been demanding law minister Ashwani Kumar's resignation for vetting a CBI affidavit on the coal blocks allocation which was meant only for the Supreme Court. The demand has been rejected by the government.

The opposition party also sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation after former telecom minister A Raja alleged that the prime minister was in the loop while decisions were taken regarding allocation of the 2G spectrum.